Stolen Vehicle Pursuit

At 2:36 AM, a neighboring agency is in pursuit of a stolen vehicle and has radioed ahead to ask for our assistance as they enter our city limits.

The key to successfully aiding the officers involved in this car chase is anticipating where the suspect might go and getting in (a safe) position to spike the tires.

They are heading southbound and approaching a highway that will force them to go east or west. East will take them into another city. So I'm hoping they go West. My heart starts beating a little faster at the opportunity! Perhaps I have a little different wiring that makes me want to run to danger instead of away.

My foot gets heavier on the gas pedal. I have an ideal spot in mind where I can deploy the spike strips and be in a reasonably safe spot, protected by a concrete barrier. I listen to the details as they are dispatched over the radio, while racing to get in position. When I hear they have exited the highway, I breathe a sigh of relief because spiking the tires on a two lane service road has FAR better odds than catching their tires on a six lane highway. This does however alter where I should set up and prepare.

As the pursuit details come in, I learn they have decided to go westbound. YES! The good news is they will be heading my direction and I'll have the opportunity to end the pursuit. The bad news is I absolutely will not make it to the safe, ideal spot I had in mind. There's just not enough distance or time. I pull into a parking lot of a closed business and decide this will have to be my set up location.

Jumping out of my patrol vehicle, I look down the long stretch of road to the east. Miles of flatland make for good visibility. I can see the red and blue flashing lights of the officers in pursuit, but the sound of the sirens are still faint.

I rush to the back of my patrol SUV and open the back hatch as I hear dispatch say they are at speeds of 80 mph on the service road. Grabbing the spike strips, I am now full on running to get in position. That is fast and they'll close in on my location soon!

Can I even pull this off?

Our spike strips are not the metal accordion chain spikes you see in all the movies. It's actually a triangular shaped tube with spikes inside of it designed to puncture the tire and quickly release the air instead of causing a violent blow out that sends the car into a dangerous crash scenario. The tube is attached to a string, which is attached to a handle.

My job is to toss the spike strips to the far side of the roadway, synch up the string, and use the handle to yank the spike strips into whatever lane the suspect vehicle happens to be in.

The police sirens are getting much louder and the headlights are getting closer. I place the spike strips in the far lane and run back across the roadway. They are definitely moving fast!

I start to synch up the string, but it's caught around my gun. I scramble to get it free, but there's no way I can remove the slack from the line in time. I guess in my rush the lever came out of position, allowing a lot of slack in the line.

I look up and notice the suspect is only several feet away from the spike strips.

No more time to get ready.

It's now or never.

Holding the handle with both hands, I yank it as hard as I can toward my left shoulder like I'm pulling in a big fish. I'm trying to account for the loose line while still maneuvering the spikes in front of the stolen vehicle. The string wraps around the top of my right hand and I hear a loud pop as the car runs over the triangular tube.

The string breaks off and the car keeps going. I hear the engine rev as the driver realizes he hit something and stomps the gas to keep going.

Not sure if I caught the tires, disappointment starts to rise. Dispatch radios that the vehicle has merged back onto the highway.

My head drops and I notice the string gashed my hand pretty good. I'm bleeding, but can't really tell how deep it is. With the adrenaline spike, I feel zero pain.

Then suddenly, I hear another transmission say the car has gone off the road into the grass and all the occupants jumped out, scattering in different directions.

Wait? Does this mean I got 'em?!

Considering three patrol vehicles were in pursuit and a couple officers from our city were in various spots with a goal to help, all suspects were quickly apprehended.

After collecting and loading up my gear, I drive up to the location where the stolen vehicle stopped and one of the officers in the pursuit approaches.

"Was that you that deployed the spike strips?"

"Yeah, I didn't have much time to get in position and wasn't sure I got it."

"You did man. You popped the front right tire. Nice work!"

The stolen vehicle had no damage other than the popped tire. The suspects were captured and taken into custody without injury. In fact, I was the only one who got hurt. To this day, several years later, I have a scar that extends across the back of my hand. It's not to obvious and it makes for a cool story, so I'm not mad about it.

I clear the call and prepare for the next one...